Published online Dec 19, 2021. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v11.i12.1228
Peer-review started: February 20, 2021
First decision: July 15, 2021
Revised: July 28, 2021
Accepted: October 27, 2021
Article in press: October 27, 2021
Published online: December 19, 2021
Processing time: 297 Days and 19 Hours
Antipsychotic agents are used for various indications in the treatment of psychiatric disorders. Despite their proven roles in multiple conditions, the treatment-emergent side effects of antipsychotic medications, such as metabolic side effects, are often the limiting factor for their long-term and short-term uses. Moreover, antipsychotic medications are often criticized for being less effective in treating different disabling symptoms such as negative symptoms of schizophrenia. As a result, the search for safer and more efficacious antipsychotic agents is ongoing. Newer antipsychotic agents are gaining attention related to emerging efficacy and tolerability data in treating neuropsychiatric conditions. In this review, we attempt to appraise the scientific data on psychopharmacology, safety profile, and efficacy of the newer additions to the list of second-generation antipsychotics, namely brexpiprazole, cariprazine, and lumateperone. We conducted a selective review utilizing PubMed, clinicaltrials.gov, and Cochrane databases to gather appropriate publications, keeping broad inclusion criteria. There were no restrictions on the age of the study population or the year of publication. We also cross-referenced articles and references to capture all existing studies. Our review of the current literature indicates that all three antipsychotic agents appear to be promising based on their short-term studies, while long-term studies remain limited. There is also a need for a head to head comparison between the newer antipsychotics with the other antipsychotic agents to ascertain if the newer agents are any better than the others.
Core Tip: In this review article we attempted to appraise the scientific literature on three newer antipsychotics such as brexpiprazole, cariprazine and lumateperone and presented their safety and efficacy data. Our aim was to investigate the status of these antipsychotic agents in treating various psychiatric disorders.